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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

Sailing in Ireland. Sailors, Yachting, Clubs, Regattas
The mighty sloops of the J Class racing off Barcelona as part of the buildup to today's start of the finals for the 37th America's Cup. The J Class were developed for America's Cup racing from 1930 until 1937, but after World War II in 1939-45, it was thought that with the impoverished global post war economy, boats like the J Class would never be seen again
When the schooner America arrived in the Solent in 1851, she took part in just one race, around the Isle of Wight on Friday August 22nd at the tail-end of that year's Cowes Week. She won. This resulted in the…
Ruth Heard in the galley of Rory O'Hanlon's Tjaldur during a Transatlantic passage from Newfoundland to Ireland in 1968

Ruth Heard RIP

11th October 2024 News Update
We regret to record the death of Ruth Heard, nee Ruth Healy, a leading figure in the Irish maritime, inland waterways and marine heritage movements for very many decades, and widow of Douglas Heard, founding President in 1946 of the…
Sir Ben Ainslie and Dylan Fletcher of the Challenger of Record, INEOS Britannia at the pre-match press conference in Barcelona on Friday 11 October
Sir Ben Ainslie has been candid about his team’s chances on the eve of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup Match in Barcelona. Speaking on The Inside Tack Show on Thursday (10 October), the skipper and team principal of INEOS…
The 37th America’s Cup - Louis Vuitton Preliminary Regatta - Race Day 2 between Emirates Team New Zealand and INEOS Britannia
The moment that every America’s Cup fan has been waiting for, and one that every Emirates Team New Zealand team member has been working relentlessly towards for over three years, is finally here. Race day one of the Louis Vuitton…
Underwater photographer Nigel Motyer will open the Dublin Bay Old Gaffer Association's 2024-2025 Winter Programme with a show in Poolbeg Yacht & Boat Cub in Ringsend on Thursday, October 17th at 8.0pm
The Dublin Bay Old Gaffer Association have scored a coup in getting international diver and underwater photographer and film-maker Nigel Motyer to open their 2024-2025 Winter Programme with a show in PoolbegYacht & Boat Cub in Ringsend on Thursday, October…
A UAE SB20 competitor in the 2022 SB20 World Championships hosted by the Royal Irish Yacht Club on Dublin Bay
The highly anticipated SB20 Worlds, originally set for February 2021 in Singapore but postponed due to global circumstances, has been rescheduled for 18th to 25th January 2025. With just 100 days to go, excitement is building for what is expected…
The Squib Class on Lough Derg
On Saturday, the Leinster rugby team will be playing against Munster in Croke Park in front of an expected crowd of 80,000 supporters. That is not the only 'Battle of the Giants' to be held on the weekend of 11th…
Cormac Byrne took the bragging rights, winning in the ILCA 6s in the first races of the Ballyholme Yacht Club Icebreaker Series on Belfast Lough
The long-running Icebreaker series at Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough started Series One of the winter racing last Sunday with over 40 dinghies sailing in a damp, southeasterly breeze of 8 – 12 knots. The series began in the…
With the success of Maggie Adamson and Cal Finlayson winning this year’s Offshore Double Handed World Championship, RORC hopes through a better structured pathway we can support the development of more World Champions, especially in 2025, RORC’s centenary year, when the World Championship will be held in Cowes
The Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) has announced the launch of the 2025 Griffin Offshore Pathway, a programme designed to provide a range of opportunities to young sailors of different abilities, wanting to hone their skills in offshore sailing. Building…
Glorious sailing on Sunday afternoon (October 6th) for Micheal  O'Donohue's immaculate Kilrush-built Galway Bay gleoiteog Naomh Fanchea
It has been quite the weekend for sailing all over Ireland, with flashes of pure sunlit joy. This was despite a weather prognosis which, at its gloomiest, had suggested that there might be no significant sailing at all anywhere. An…
Concord Pacific Racing during the second race of the day at the Puig Women's America's Cup
Concord Pacific Racing's campaign came to a heartbreaking end on Tuesday after the Canadian team was forced to retire from racing following a catastrophic mechanical failure during the second race of the day at the Puig Women's America's Cup. With…
Cumann Huicéirí na Gaillimhe Sailor of the year, Cian Mac Donnacha at the annual prizegiving ceremony Photo: Máire Ní Éinniú/Cumann Huceirí
Cumann Huicéirí na Gaillimhe celebrated a highly successful sailing season at its annual prizegiving ceremony. The festive event with food and music by John Beag was managed by Donal Green and committee, as chairman Cathal "Cookie" Griffin was absent due…
Competitors at the first Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) event of the year hosted by Carlingford Sailing Club
UCD Sailing has kicked off the 2024/25 season with a big win, with UCD 1 finishing 1st place overall in the first Irish University Sailing Association (IUSA) team racing event of the year hosted by Carlingford Sailing Club. 21 teams…
The little boat that thinks it's a big boat. The Cape 31 Pacific Yankee taking the trophy in the Big Boat Series at San Francisco, scorching along to success so smoothly you'd reckon the two guys at the stern are chatting at a tram stop
Just about the last thing you'd think about in dreamy Avoca in the heart of County Wicklow is the serious cut and thrust of big boat racing on the salty sea. Yet this other "Avoca Craft Centre" is focused on…
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Robert Espey of Ballyholme Yacht Club is the winner of this year’s Irish Sailing Champions’ Cup which took place at Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club in Cultra, Co. Down after a string of strong results. Espey, who raced on…
A fleet of 29 boats are contesting Royal Cork Yacht Club's 2024 Autumn League 2024 in Cork Harbour. See the photo gallery below
After abandoning the first races last weekend (due to weather, three races were sailed in medium winds for the 29-boat cruiser-racer fleet in Royal Cork Yacht Club's Autumn League 2024 on Sunday. Admiral's Grand Soliel 40 has Perfect Scoreline The…

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]